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Global temperature has risen by 1°C since 1900, while since the 1990s the Arctic has recently experienced an accelerated warming of about double the average rate of global warming. Nearly all climate scientists agree that the main cause of this temperature rise is ever-increasing accumulations of ‘greenhouse gases’, especially carbon dioxide and methane, within our atmosphere. Sea level rise could easily exceed one metre this century under ‘business as usual’. However, global warming is not just about rising temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels, but it also affects the frequency and severity of many extreme weather events. Planetary warming is not a uniform process, can spring surprises in regional climate change and is probably linked with the tendency for Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes to have more extreme (variously hot/cold/dry/wet) weather, especially during the recent period of rapid Arctic warming. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity through enhanced greenhouse gas emissions is largely responsible for recent climate change and accompanying extreme weather, and we are already clearly seeing these changes. However, it is equally evident that, although initial remedial steps are being taken, finding an adequate solution will not be easy unless much larger changes are made to the way in which we all live. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures would require global carbon dioxide emissions to decrease by approximately 40–60% by 2030 relative to 2010 levels. This can only be achieved through a collective solution that fully involves diverse communities, among them religious stakeholders.

We argue that in order to address the contemporary challenges that organizations and societies are facing, the field of organization development (OD) requires frameworks and skills to focus on the eco-system as the level of analysis. In a world that has become economically, socially, and technologically highly connected, approaches that foster the optimization of specific actors in the eco-system, such as individual corporations, result in sub-optimization of the sustainability of the natural and social system because there is insufficient offset to the ego-centric purposes of the focal organization. We discuss the need for OD to broaden focus to deal with technological advances that enable new ways of organizing at the eco-system level, and to deal with the challenges to sustainable development. Case examples from healthcare and the agri-foods industry illustrate the kinds of development approaches that are required for the development of healthy eco-systems. We do not suggest fundamental changes in the identity of the field of organizational development. In fact, we demonstrate the need to dig deeply into the open systems and socio-technical roots of the field, and to translate the traditional values and approaches of OD to continue to be relevant in today’s dynamic interdependent world.

The annual report of the Food Investigation Board which has just been issued contains much information relating to the cold storage of meat which is of interest. The Engineering Committee has offered some valuable suggestions on the means of improving refrigerating plant. Particular attention has been given to the condition known as “Black Spot,” which is caused by a fungus and develops in cold stores. This hardy fungus will grow at 5 deg. Cent. below freezing point. It is possible that even this temperature may not represent the lowest at which growth can take place. Spores—or seeds—of this fungus retain their vitality for six months under cold storage conditions, after which they are still able to develop normally at ordinary temperature. There was much “Black Spot” on meat coming from the Southern hemisphere during 1918–1919. It has been ascertained that this was due to the prolonged cold storage necessitated in 1917–1918 by the war. As conditions become more normal the duration of storage will be so short as to prevent the development of the pest. On the other hand, it is known now that fluctuations of temperature are dangerous, because the fungus flourishes best at 0deg. Cent., and also because fluctuations alter the humidity of the cold store and cause snow to fall. The flakes of the snow carry the fungus into the meat. The fungus is thought to come from the stock yards and slaughter‐houses. It is not, however, so far as is known, poisonous to human beings and produces no poison in the meat. Meat so affected need not, it is thought, be condemned as unfit for food unless putrefaction is also present. The fruit and vegetable committee is now investigating the storage of English apples. This is a complicated problem involving questions of humidity, temperature, time, soil, and packing. The results obtained so far suggest that a temperature of 1 deg. Cent., is better than higher temperatures. With a humidity of 85 per cent. saturation at 1 deg. Cent. or 3 deg. Cent. no shrinkage of the apples has been observed. Marked shrinkage occurred with a humidity of 60 per cent. saturation at 5 deg. Cent.

Provides an empirically based discussion of the uncertainties faced by typical manufacturing firms and how they attempt to accommodate that uncertainty through increased manufacturing flexibility. Suggests a dynamic equilibrium model which helps to illustrate the trade‐offs and interrelationships between the manufacturing flexibility inherent in a firm′s processes and infrastructure, the uncertainties faced by the firm, and the way in which the firm′s processes and infrastructures are buffered with inventory, lead time, and capacity. In addition, suggests a set of auditing checklists which build on earlier work by Skinner. This process helps the firm to identify its relative position in terms of the dynamic equilibrium model and also to identify long‐term objectives for improving its competitiveness within the marketplace.

Was the October Revolution inevitable? If yes, what was its real character? If not, could it have been avoided or taken a different course? What was the role played in it by Lenin? Using the dialectical method of analysis, an attempt is made to provide answers to these questions. The following points are stressed: (1) Given the general and particular conditions of Russian life created by the First World War and the February Revolution, the break with the old democratic mixed capitalist form and the establishment of the new totalitarian state capitalist form of the social development were inevitable. (2) The fact that this process was headed by Lenin was accidental and, hence, avoidable. (3) But Lenin individualised the general and particular features of the October Revolution in terms of the names of the events associated with the revolution, of the time of its occurrence, of its participants and of their positions during and after the revolution.